It's fun to get a shiny new gadget or indulge in a great book or movie, but constantly purchasing these items can get pretty pricey if you do it often. If you want to keep getting new stuff without the downside of paying for it, however, work-life blog Savvy Sugar points out that all that's necessary is a couple of good online reviews:

Shhh, don't let anyone know, but you can get free books from authors, even the acclaimed and famous ones, if you try this trick. A lot of times, you can even get the book ahead of its release. All you have to do is start building up a nice repertoire of really solid and detailed book reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, the social network for book recommendations. If your Amazon reviews are good, people will start voting on them, which may qualify you for Amazon Vine, an exclusive club that "invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new and prerelease items." And if you're a popular Good Reads reviewer, authors will start reaching out to you to review their books.

Although I've never used GoodReads, I can vouch for the Amazon Vine program as I've been a member for several years. While it's definitely true that you can get a lot of great free stuff in exchange for writing a short review on the site, it's important to note that the stock of these free goods is limited. The good stuff goes fast and you have to hurry to quickly claim an item before someone else gets it. The selection isn't always ideal every few weeks, either, so you won't always find something you want.

Nonetheless, it is free and Amazon doesn't do anything to influence your reviews. It's all on the up-and-up. They just want popular reviewers to keep writing. Through the program I've gotten everything from a box of low-fat Wheat Thins to expensive digital cameras, so there's a wide variety of items. If you love books, that selection is always abundant because most people go through the other stuff. While there's no surefire way to get into the program, I believe I was chosen years ago because I wrote a popular camera review. You just have to start reviewing products people are going to care about and, if your reviews are well-liked, you might just receive an invitation. When you're not rolling in money but want new gadgets, books, food, or whatever, reviewing your way into one of these programs can help you get those things without paying anything at all.